Hamburg vs Borussia Dortmund

March 6, 2015
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Relegation-threatened Hamburg continued the poor run of results by losing to Eintracht and they now have a mountain to climb as they play host to revived Borussia Dortmund. The Millionaires have effectively kick-started their season and they will fancy their chances of recording a fifth straight league win at Imtech Arena.

Problems continue to mount

This is the third time in last four years that Hamburg are heavily involved in the relegation tussle, and club fans have every right to fear that this may be the season when the Red Shorts get relegated. While injury worries continue to mount, key players like Rafa van der Vaart, Ivica Olic and Artoms Rudnevs are largely struggling for form, so nobody has been surprised with another disappointing streak of results. Following the embarrassing 8-0 loss at Alianz Arena, HSV showed some improvement to hold Borussia M’gladbach to a 1-1 draw at home before suffering a 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. As a result, they currently sit just one point above the bottom three and with the players completely out of confidence, this is clearly not the right time to be facing in-form Borussia Dortmund. Having already suffered five Bundesliga defeats at home this term, Hamburg are clearly not the force to be reckoned with at Imtech Arena and with several star men missing, I really don’t see how they are going to match their more illustrious opponents, who have seriously raised their form of late.

Matthias Ostrzolek is suspended, whereas Ivica Olic and Valon Behrami are injury doubts. The likes of Slobodan Rajkovic, Marcelo Diaz, Lewis Holtby and Pierre-Michel Lasogga are definitely out.

What a comeback!

Borussia Dortmund have endured some tough times this season, with the lack of confidence and bad luck combined with some under-par performances seeing the team slip to Bundesliga rock bottom, but things have changed considerably over the past few weeks. Four impressive victories in a row not only saw the Millionaires escape the danger zone, but also placed them in a position to think about a top 4 finish. Following the outstanding 3-0 victory over rivals Schalke, Borussia sit some eight points behind Champions League places and if they continue playing like this, a top 4 finish will soon become a reality. It is clear that the team are playing with freedom created by confidence and it is not only their results that have been pretty impressive, but performances as well. While their experienced some problems in the 3-2 away win over Stuttgart, the Millionaires were much more convincing against Schalke, having dominated from the start and the winning margin could have been even greater. And with the team now very motivated to stay on the right track, I believe they is a lot of value in backing Jurgen Klopp’s charges to see off out-of-sorts Hamburg at Imtech Arena.

Marco Reus may not be risked having suffered a bruised knee in midweek, whilst Erik Durm, Lukasz Piszczek and Kevin Grosskreutz are out injured.

Verdict

Hamburg have been pretty disappointing of late and with so many important players missing, I cannot see them getting anything from this match. Meanwhile, Borussia have seriously raised their game over the last few weeks and I am backing them to record another comfortable win.

Top pick: Away win   1.57 (4/7) @ BetVictor

Alternative pick 1: Borussia/Borussia   2.35 (27/20) @ Unibet

Alternative pick 2: Borussia -1.5 AH   2.65 (33/20) @ 888sport

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